


Christmas Market

by Brosequartz



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Genji and Jesse go Christmas shopping, Holding Hands, Hurt/Comfort, It's -4C in Geneva probably, M/M, Post-Recall, Swiss HQ, and Genji gets sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 21:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17332958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brosequartz/pseuds/Brosequartz
Summary: A gift for a McGenji secret santa exchange!It snows, they go to a Christmas market in Geneva, and share a tender moment.





	Christmas Market

Genji blew on his hands, rubbing them together quickly before slipping his left one back inside its glove. Jesse, waiting a few steps ahead of him, reached out to take it as Genji skipped to catch up.

“Does that actually warm your hand up?” Jesse asked as they fell into step.

“Yes,” said Genji. “My cybernetics are heated from the inside, so the metal is warm.”

“That so?” said Jesse, holding up Genji’s right hand to look at it. The green lights embedded in it glowed softly in the dusk. “Wish I could hold it with my real hand, then,” he laughed, “then you could keep my hand warm.” He held up his right hand, also embedded in a glove, and wiggled his fingers at Genji in a wave.

“Maybe you should walk backwards,” suggested Genji without missing a beat.

Jesse burst out laughing, and turned around. “Good idea!” he said, passing Genji’s hand from his own left to his right. “You’ll have to make sure I don’t bump into anything, though.” He tugged Genji forward, stepping carefully backwards through the snow.

“I will do my best,” Genji promised. “I think you may have to turn around when we reach the market, however,” he added with a small smile. Jesse turned to look over at his shoulder, at the Christmas lights just a block away now. They had been thrown up all around the square, surrounding a grid of stalls bustling with people doing their Christmas shopping. Jesse picked up his backward pace, awkwardly shuffling along. Genji laughed.

“What?” said Jesse. His face was red from the cold, and his words turned into little puffs of cloud as they came out of his mouth. His hair poked out from under his hat (not his usual cowboy hat, but a woolen hat Dr. Ziegler had insisted he wear. ‘Your ears will freeze off,’ she had said, ‘and I won’t be sewing them back on.’) 

“What?” Jesse repeated, when Genji didn’t reply but just stood there, taking in the image of Jesse, a desert boy, thrown into the cold of the Alps.

“You look silly,” he replied with a smile.

“I look silly? You’re a cyborg and you’re wearing a wool hat!”

Genji reached up with his left hand to tug the hat in question further down his head. “Reinhardt knitted it for me,” he protested. “What was I supposed to do, throw it away?”

They were approaching the market now, the voices of the shoppers now louder than the crunch of the snow beneath their feet. 

“You will have to turn around now, Jesse. I cannot protect you from Christmas shoppers.”

Jesse laughed, and righted himself, taking Genji’s right hand back in his own left. “Where to first?” he asked, grinning down at Genji.

“Let’s just take a lap before we think about buying anything,” Genji suggested. 

“Good idea.”

They walked around the market, marveling at the lights, the wares for sale, and the people bustling around them. The square had been cleared of snow, but more had fallen earlier that day, and been trampled into ice beneath the feet of hundreds of shoppers. “Be careful,” Genji murmured. “You could easily slip on this.”

Jesse squeezed his hand. “I will.”

Genji smiled beneath his mask. Ten years ago Jesse would have responded to that plea with something like ‘what makes you think I would slip?’ or ‘don’t worry about that, silly.’ Well, maybe not in those words, but to that effect. But now he just said “I will.” I will. I will be careful. Even of something small like slipping and falling in a happy little square in Geneva. I will be careful. Genji shuffled closer to him, and let go of his hand to slip an arm around his waist. Jesse didn’t miss a beat, immediately wrapping his arm around Genji’s shoulders and pulling him close.

Genji leaned his head against Jesse’s shoulder and briefly closed his eyes as they walked. Listening to the sounds swirling around them. Mostly voices. Voices in many languages, unexpected ones. He had of course expected German and French, but voices were also speaking English, Czech, Russian, even Mandarin. He sniffed in a deep breath, but the air was too cold to smell anything. Oh well.

He opened his eyes. Bright lights surrounded them, glittering against the darkening sky. The sun had already dipped beneath the horizon, and it wasn’t even 5pm. The streetlamps had just turned on, automatically sensing the sunset. They did little in the face of the Christmas lights, however, which had already made the square so bright.

Jesse tugged Genji forward, having spotted something that interested him. They shuffled along, trying not to bump into the other shoppers but not really succeeding.

“We are going to keep getting bumped into if we keep walking two abreast,” Genji chuckled, squeezing closer to Jesse.

“Aw, who cares?” Jesse replied. “No one’s gonna think we’re being rude, cause we look so cute all cuddled up like this.”

“Pfft,” Genji laughed, but looking around, Jesse was right. Occasionally, a stranger would glance at them and smile. Genji felt himself smile too, beneath his mask. Even in a world filled with tension, always on the brink of a war, people still loved love. They found it beautiful. Worth protecting, worth fighting for. They were right. That was why they had answered the recall, after all. Genji laughed again. He sounded like Dr. Zhou.

“Whatcha laughing at?” Jesse asked.

“I will tell you later,” Genji promised. 

“Aw, c’mon, darlin’. Tell me!”

“I was just thinking,” Genji said, lowering his voice. Jesse tilted his head down to listen. “We have so much to live for, and to fight for. Ten years ago, I put no value on my own life. If I died, that was fine with me. But now, I am not so reckless.”

Jesse turned and swept Genji into his arms. “What’s funny about that?” he murmured into Genji’s ear, just the tiniest hint of amusement in his voice.

“Because,” Genji said, his voice wavering, “it sounds like one of Dr. Zhou’s pep talks.” He realized he was crying.

“Oh, yeah,” said Jesse, “she’s a right comedian, huh?”

“That is not what I meant,” Genji chuckled. He sniffled, and continued in a whisper, trying to keep his voice too quiet for the crowd around them to hear. “It scares me sometimes to remember how little I used to care.” He pressed his face into Jesse’s shoulder and held back a sob. “About myself, I mean. I always cared so much about you.”

Jesse squeezed his arms around Genji and rocked him gently. “I’ve always cared about you too, sweetheart,” he whispered.

Genji took a deep breath, and dragged himself back to the present. Here he was, crying softly in a happy, brightly lit little market in Geneva, holding the love of his life in his arms. Hidden behind his visor, he thought it must look to the people around them like they were just sharing a tender moment.

Which… they were?

Genji pulled back to look Jesse in the eye. His expression was one of gentle concern. “You okay, darlin’?” He asked. “You wanna go home?”

Genji shook his head. Half to say ‘no,’ half to clear it. “I am all right,” he said. “Thank you, my love.”

“Alright, great, because I saw some sparkly things over there I think the doc would think were cool.” Jesse released Genji, then tugged him by the hand towards a stall just down the row. 

Genji’s face broke into a smile. Jesse’s heart was so full of love. He was so lucky to share it.


End file.
